Tuesday, October 18, 2011

Winter and the CMA

Today's rainy day was spent at the Clearwater Marine Aquarium. Have you seen the movie Dolphin Tale? If not, you should!

Winter is the resident dolphin who lost her tail because she was caught in the line of a crab trap. She was fitted with a prosthetic tail, but doesn't wear it all the time. In the movie, there was part of the story line that gave the impression that if she did not wear the tail, she would eventually damage her spine and die, but since she did not have the tail on when I was there, or anytime I have looked on the web cam, I don't think it is a medical necessity.

There are 3 other dolphins that live there, Hope, Nicholas, and Panama. And there are many other animals as well. There was a whole pool of stingrays, that you were allowed to feed. I fed one and shared my other fish with a little boy standing next to me so that he could feed a stingray as well. It is a funny sensation, feeding the stingray. You hold the fish between your two fingers and the stingray kind of swims over your hand and sucks it up through their mouth which is on the bottom of their body. It is a weird feeling.